IADIZA   20886
INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE INVESTIGACIONES DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Specifying the mountain wetland status in the High Central Andes of Argentina
Autor/es:
ONTIVERO M.; EDUARDO MARTINEZ CARRETERO
Lugar:
Montpelier
Reunión:
Congreso; 5º International EcoSummit. Ecological Sustainability. Engineering Change; 2016
Resumen:
The aim of this paper is to generate a proposal to determine the ecological status of mountain wetlands (vegas) in the Central Andes of Argentina. Wetlands in this region are located in areas of difficult access due to climatic and topographic conditions. Three environments, which have homogeneous biophysical characteristics, ranging from very wet to dry are distinguished into wetlands. The proposal is based on measuring the characteristics of these environments (oversaturated, saturated and dry), both in the field and through satellite images. The parameters determined in the field were: microtopography, soil moisture, vegetation cover, floristic composition and diversity of plant communities. The use of satellite images allowed the detection, measurement and delimitation of spectral classes of the different environments. The analysis of both ecological and spectral data allowed establishing three thematic classes: Class 1: oversaturated, hydrophytic vegetation; Class 2: saturated, mesophytic vegetation and Class 3: dry, xerophytic vegetation. Considering the different surfaces and habitat conditions of each environment, wetland status can be evaluated as: Good, Intermediate, Poor and Bad. To determine the status and assess their correspondence to the field, 12 selected wetlands, in two natural protected areas of outstanding importance in High Andean ecosystems, were analyzed: San Guillermo (San Juan) and Laguna Brava (La Rioja) reserves, both located between 3300 and 4300m asl. Two satellite images ALOS-AVNIR-2, 10x10m spatial resolution, were employed. Taking into account the area occupied by each environment, wetlands are in good condition when oversaturated and saturated surfaces predominate (more than 75%) and fair to poor when dry environment prevails. In this way, through this methodology, it is possible to estimate the status of those wetlands inaccessible (by their location) or in areas with anthropic activities.